This invention relates generally to microfiche masters adapted to accommodate microfilm, and more particularly to a single-channel microfiche master which is manipulatable in one axial direction only by a microfiche filler, reader, reader-printer or other microfiche-handling machine, the microfiche master lending itself to storage in standard file drawers and cabinets.
Microfiche masters housing 16 or 35 millimeter film are currently in widespread use in connection with the storage and retrieval of information photographically recorded on a reduced scale. One well-known form of microfiche master is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,238,655, the master being composed of two transparent plastic panels in superposed relation laminated together by parallel ribs which define a plurality of open-ended pockets or channels adapted to accommodate microfilm strips, each carrying one or more image frames of recorded text and other documentation.
The loaded multi-channel jacket functions as a microfiche master from which low-cost duplicates or reference copies can be quickly made by contact printing, using diazo-processing techniques for this purpose. A similar microfiche master is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,648, the multiple film-receiving channels in this instance being defined by parallel bonding lines formed by ultrasonically fusing the plastic panels together.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,238,655 and 4,167,842 disclose reader-filler machines for loading and updating a multi-channel microfiche jacket with film chips. Insertions are made by placing the jacket to be filled on an inclined platform that is shiftable in the Y-direction to register successive jacket channels with the leading edge of an incoming film web drawn from a reel, the film being guided in the X-direction along a trackway terminating adjacent the edge of the platform. In operation, a film section constituted by one or more image frames is advanced into a selected channel, the trailing edge of the section then being severed to form a film chip which remains in the channel. The platform is then indexed to the next channel for a new insertion.
To illustrate a typical microfiche system and the procedures involved in handling existing forms of multi-channel microfiches, we shall, by way of example, outline the procedures followed by the Black Bros. Company, as described in detail in the May 1976 issue of the Modern Office Procedures magazine. This company manufactures machines to perform laminating and finishing operations for wood and metal working and has some 20,000 machines in use throughout the world. To provide efficient and expeditious part service from inventory, it is essential that the records on each of these machines be readily accessible, so that the complete history of any machine in the field can be reviewed even while talking to a customer on the phone.
To this end, Black Bros. maintain no paper files at all for their machine records. Whenever a machine is sold, the order therefor and the bill of materials are photographically recorded on 16 mm microfilm, with a 20 times reduction in scale. This film is loaded by means of a reader-filler machine into 4 by 6 inch microfiche jackets having five channels, each having a maximum capacity of 12 frames. The jacket lists the customer's name and the machine's size and serial number, the jacket being color-coded to indicate machine type. Thus each microfiche jacket is capable of storing in a reduced image scale 60 documents relevant to a particular machine.
Using a microfiche diazo printer and a diazo processor, Black Bros. make reference copies of each microfiche master for their scales and customer service departments as well as for their service center responsible for the geographic area in which the machine is located. Updates to existing machine histories, such as repairs, new parts and new owners are also microfilmed and inserted into the existing jacket by means of the reader-filler machine.
When a telephone call is received by a service expert at a Black Bros. facility regarding any one of the machines in the field, the expert pulls out from his file only the reference copy of the microfiche master for that machine, and he puts it in an optical reader on his desk. Thus the expert is in a position to review the history of the machine while conferring with the customer.
Similar microfiche procedures are carried out in hospitals which must maintain detailed up-to-date medical histories on each patient, and in other organizations which have similar record requirements. In all cases, the machines for mechanically loading the multi-channel microfiches, for optically reading microfiche masters or reference copies must have an X-Y coordinate capability. The reason for this is that the film frames housed in the microfiche lies in parallel channels to define a rectangular array of frames; hence in order to select a particular frame for examination, the microfiche must first be shifted in the machine in the Y-direction to locate the channel containing the frame, the microfiche then being shifted in the X or channel direction to locate the desired frame therein.
Because of this X-Y coordinate requirement, readers and other machines adapted to manipulate existing multi-channel microfiche formats are relatively complex mechanisms which operate at fairly slow speeds and are expensive to manufacture.
Another factor which renders the multi-channel microfiche format somewhat incompatible with modern office requirements is the storage arrangement dictated by the file card dimensions of the microfiche. The usal storage practice is to provide trays for the multi-channels jackets, a typical tray having a 1,000 jacket capacity. These jackets may be filed in straight numerical order or alphabetically. Color coding, notching and other coding techniques are used to prevent misfiling. In automatic filing systems, a multi-shelf arrangement is provided, each shelf supporting a large number of trays. The shelves are mounted on a turret that is rotatable to bring a selected shelf into line with a file clerk's work table.
A tray-shelf multi-channel microfiche filing system is appropriate in those office and factory situations where the files can be concentrated at a central storage station under the control of an operator whose function it is to locate a desired microfiche and to deliver it to the requesting party. But in modern offices, the trend is toward individual, semi-enclosed work stations, each having a desk provided with desk drawers, compartments and shelves and for storing operating equipment, such as typewriters and microfiche readers appropriate to the nature of the work to be carried out at the station. Because a work station is designed to afford the office or factory worker all of the files and equipment necessary for that worker to perform his assigned task, it is important that all available space at the station be efficiently utilized.
To illustrate the limitations of existing systems based on the multi-channel microfiche format, we shall, by way of example, assume a ten work station set-up at a large insurance company in which the clerk assigned to each station has responsibility for 20,000 accounts whose records are contained in 20,000 multi-channel microfiles. This would ordinarily require 20 microfiche trays each holding 1,000 microfiches. With the typical work station, there may not be adequate room for 20 trays; for this would pre-empt an excessive amount of shelf or drawer space.
In this example, one could solve the space problem by centralizing the files for the ten work stations at a nearby central file room so that when a need arises for a particular account-record, the work station clerk would request the microfiche from file central. But this procedure has obvious practical drawbacks. Ideally, the files needed at each work station should be kept in a standard file drawer of the type presently used for letter or legal size folders so that the station clerk could have immediate access thereto.
However, while such file drawers are included in existing types of work stations for storing folders, the format of the multi-channel microfiche is such as to militate against use of such drawers for microfiche storage. Thus if a file tray containing multi-channel microfiches were kept in a drawer, in order to pull out a particular microfiche from the file, it would be necessary to remove the entire tray from the drawers and place it on the desk so that the operator could riffle through the file to locate the desired microfiche.
The present invention provides a single-channel microfiche format which facilitates the handling of microfiches. The need for a single-channel microfiche has been stimulated by the recent introduction of complete document microfilming machines designed for office use that are as simple to operate as a conventional office xerographic copier. Typical of such microfilming machines is the table model 6100 machine marketed by Electro-Optical Mechanisms, Inc. of Pomona, Calif. This machine is a microfilm processor that produces a 16 mm fully-processed film strip of six inches in length having up to 14 images thereon reduced to one twenty-fourth the original document size. Thus the operator, very much in the fashion of an office copier, succesively places documents of up to 81/2.times.14 inches in size in the machine. The machine takes reduced-scale photocopies of these documents on film which is automatically processed, advanced and cut to yield a single microfilm strip.
While such film strips can be inserted into the multiple channels of existing types of microfiche jackets, it would require a relatively expensive filler-reader machine having an X-Y coordinate capacity for this purpose. Moreover, since the 14-image capacity of the strip produced by the model 6100 machine is intended to provide a complete account or client record for use by doctors, dentists, lawyers, personnel departments and other users whose record requirements per account rarely exceed 14 documents, what is appropriate to a 14 frame microfilm strip is a single-channel jacket capable of housing this strip, rather than an existing multi-channel jacket whose channels each have the usual 12-frame capacity.